Lou Spadia, ex-49ers’ official, mourned

When the 49ers left Kezar Stadium for Candlestick Park in 1971, their new home had to be expanded. The contractor told 49ers President Lou Spadia the pilings had to go 100 feet into bedrock because the park had been built on landfill.

“How much would it cost if we go down 50 feet?” the contractor was asked. It would be less expensive, he said. The team president nevertheless approved the deeper, more costly pilings.

In 1989, the now former club executive and his son, Louis, were in a suite at Candlestick when the Loma Prieta earthquake struck. The park was damaged but basically withstood the quake, saving thousands of lives. Two weeks later, Mr. Spadia ran into the contractor on a golf course – and kissed him on the lips. “Thanks for having us go down 100 feet,” he told him.

Lou Spadia, the former office “go-fer” who rose to the top of the 49ers’ organization and later headed the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, died Saturday at the Sequoias convalescent home in San Francisco. He was 92.

Mr. Spadia, who grew up on Potrero Hill and played baseball at Mission High, joined the fledgling 49ers franchise of the All-America Football Conference in 1946 after service in World War II.

He held numerous duties before moving up the ladder. He was briefly the team’s equipment man, was in charge of travel arrangements and even made bed checks of players on road trips, a job he hated.

Mr. Spadia later became the team’s business manager and in 1957, was given the job of negotiating contracts. He became chief executive officer and general manager in 1964, upon the death of owner Vic Morabito. Mr. Spadia was named team president in 1967.

He made perhaps his best management move in 1968, signing Dick Nolan as head coach.

“I hired him because his strength was defense,” Spadia said. “I realized offense was a great show, but you didn’t win with it.” Under Nolan, the 49ers won three straight NFC West titles (1970-72).

His daughter, Louise Beckham, recalled listening in as her father called every member of the team on the Friday before the 49ers’ first conference championship game in January 1971. “They were supposed to get a bonus if they won,” she said. “He told them they’d get the bonus whether they won or lost.”

In 1961, Mr. Spadia persuaded NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle to sell national advertising for all teams’ game-day programs. Rozelle formed NFL Properties, which grew into a multibillion-dollar enterprise. Mr. Spadia was director of the NFL Properties executive committee for 16 years.

He remained with the 49ers until Eddie DeBartolo bought the team from the Morabito family, including Mr. Spadia’s 5 percent share, in 1977, and hired Joe Thomas to run the club.

Along with Bill Dauer, head of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Spadia co-founded the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 1979 and became its executive director, a job he kept until 2003. He insisted that all the money it raised go to Bay Area youth instead of to building a museum. Inductees’ plaques are displayed at the United Airlines terminal at San Francisco International Airport before going to permanent locations of the inductees’ choosing.

Over the years, the hall has distributed more than $4 million to more than 600 local youth programs.

“He was one of a kind: philanthropic, creative, a born leader,” former 49ers marketing man Ken Flower said.

Mr. Spadia was adept at getting people to work for nothing. Golfer Ken Venturi, who helped raise funds for the Hall of Fame, called Mr. Spadia “Crime” because “Crime doesn’t pay, and neither does Spadia.”

In 1999, Spadia was surprised by being named to the hall himself.

His son, Louis of San Mateo, said, “He was a very caring dad. He loved sports and passed that on to everyone in the family. His Catholic faith was very strong. He told us to believe in yourself and believe in the mercy of God. That’s pretty much what his philosophy was.”

His wife, Maggie, died in 1976. Beside his son, he is survived by three daughters, Kate Spadia of San Francisco, Dossie Spadia of Redwood City and Louise Beckham of Paso Robles (San Louis Obispo County); seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.